Unlikely as it seems, I need to make a truly, deeply, droolingly admiring observation. Every State of the Union Address I’ve ever heard included what I call the “laundry list” portion. That’s when the President itemizes every single “accomplishment” of the last year, including “expanding Flag Day activities in minority owned-and-operated government-contractor construction companies.” Boring, dreary, unnecessary, and usually not entirely honest. Bush skipped all that, although the temptation must have been great, given the year he’s just had.

Overall tonight’s SOTU was Bush’s best. I’ve been (more or less) drunkblogging these things for five years now, and they’ve almost always left a bad taste in my mouth. One, I’m happy to say, easily remedied by another sip or two of vodka. However, Bush’s best SOTU will also prove his least effective. The best he can hope for out of the new Congress is that the Blue Dog Dems help him maintain our tax cuts. Other than that, this Presidency is domestically done.

Foreign policy is all Bush has left – all any seventh-year President has, really. Tonight he said the things he always says, but will he follow through this time? Will he use his lame-duck status as cover to get things done, or will he just be lame? Dunno, but we’ll have fun watching it unfold.

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It all depends on the manner in which he is a broken man. If he is broken and beaten down, he’ll bow to whatever public pressure demands of him. If he is broken and bitter, he will do what he thinks is right and finish what he started.

The Administration’s credibility with the public is shot to hell (and they have nobody but themselves to blame for that) and it seems unlikely to me that one speech is going to turn things around.

The President may get a week or so of good press out of this, but then we’ll be back to more car bombings in Baghdad and the slow, agonizing, two year long end to the Bush Administration will continue.

Two years is the time from Operation Torch, when American troops first got into action against the Germans, to the American Army crossing into Germany after liberating France. Two years is more than the time from Gettysburg to Appomattox. Guerilla-type wars do play out slowly. Still, two years is a long time in a war. It took Lincoln a long time to find Grant. Bush now has Petraeus, who will need to be more of Templer than a Grant, but let us hope he is the man for the hour.